


i’m not afraid of the man next door [he’s calm and quiet with a heart of stone]

by Anonymous



Category: DreamSMP, Minecraft (Video Game), Video Blogging RPF
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Banter, Childhood Friends, Fluff, Friends to Lovers, Good Brother Eret, Good things happen, Hurt/Comfort, Idiots in Love, Light Angst, M/M, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, Tooth-Rotting Fluff, Villain Clay | Dream (Video Blogging RPF), good brother technoblade, happy ending guaranteed, i will give him this, okay bad news - hurt/comfort, smp tommy deserves good things like mental stability and healthy friendships, techno + tommy will get along in time
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-12-19
Updated: 2021-02-01
Packaged: 2021-03-11 01:35:03
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 4,443
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28176987
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/
Summary: after everything that’s been going on in the dreamsmp, they finally reach an era of peace. tommy invites deo to the server..[tommy missed deo, deo missed tommy. they meet up again. they fall in love. life is good.].feel free to leave hate comments and kudos <3
Relationships: Technoblade & TommyInnit (Video Blogging RPF), Time Deo & TommyInnit (Video Blogging RPF), Time Deo/TommyInnit (Video Blogging RPF), Toby Smith | Tubbo & TommyInnit
Comments: 47
Kudos: 302
Collections: Anonymous





	1. i was waiting on the future, but the future never came

**Author's Note:**

> cross posted on wattpad.
> 
> this takes place in an alt universe where the exile arc never happens. dream smp tommy deserves good things, like happiness and mental stability and freedom.

when deo finally gets whitelisted to the dreamsmp server, he half considers delaying joining for another couple weeks, just so he can find and record the locations of the new fairy souls that have been rumored to be added.

but, he muses, tommy has argued for so long to get him added to the smp, and it’d be rude to keep him waiting another month. deo doesn’t know why tommy is so adamant that he visits again, but he supposes it’s because tommy misses him. and, truth be told, deo misses tommy as well.

he’d once said, “well, i don’t like joining smps, because i can’t win in an smp,” and tommy had laughed so hard he’d cried, but deo had put down his carrot farming and power VI books to join tommy in smpearth, because that’s what friends do for each other. they step out of their comfort zones and fight wars with their friends, and make factions and kill god and glitch the entire map in order to fly under it.

smpearth were good times.

maybe dreamsmp will be good too.

so, with a sigh, he places down his one billion coin midas sword and steps through the portal, pulling out a compass. he doesn’t really have much on him other than some bread and a couple of diamonds, but that’s okay. it’s a regular smp, he’ll be able to gather materials when he gets there.

he finds he’s not as disgruntled to leave his work in skyblock as he thought he would be. he supposes it’s because he misses tommy as well, and techno and philza. he never really knew wilbur, but he recognizes the name, so he decides he’d like to see tommy’s elder brother again. from what he can remember he heard, he peices together that wilbur was philza’s middle kid, very tall and very clever. he can remember philza and techno clearly, he went to war with them.

he also remembers that he owes a favor to philza. another reason to join the smp.

and besides, he’s a little concerned for tommy. from what he’s gathered, the dreamsmp hasn’t really been smooth sailing as of late. he’s heard it’s better now, and they’re in a peacetime era, but deo still, embarrassingly, worries.

he worries over the fact that tommy is still only sixteen, and has already fought over three wars, watched his brother die, and is now running a parliament while trying to rebuild a country. it just seems a lot of responsibility, and sometimes deo wishes tommy would just take a break and retire for a month or so to his skyblock island for a bit.

but tommy wouldn’t do that, between getting exiled and starting a new parliament, the poor guy has his hands full.

but, deo reminds himself, his hands aren’t too full to constantly bug deo to join the smp. deo smiles at that. 

yes, he decides, he has missed tommy, and it’ll be nice to see him again, with his wild blond hair and equally wild smile. 

and with that thought, deo steps through the portal leading him to the dream smp. he shuts his eyes tight.

when he opens them again, he’s standing in what must be the ugliest spawn area he’s ever seen. there’s a mix of cobblestone and wooden planks, and the grass is overgrown and unkempt. he’s made it to the dreamsmp. as he looks around for a way to climb out, he sees tommy sitting on one of the walls, looking behind him, biting his nail. 

deo raises a hand, “hey, tommy.”

tommy spins around, his entire face lighting up as his eyes settle on deo. “deo!” he yells, throwing himself off the wall at the older man, deo only just managing to catch him. 

“good to see you too,” deo says, surprised, as he reaches a hand up to ruffle tommy’s hair.

tommy pulls away, grinning widely. “come on, man! i’m gonna show you the entire server in the space of twenty four hours. i reckon we can see the whole place if we go quickly.”

deo laughs lightly, watching tommy pull himself up and over the wall. he does the same, saying, “who made the spawn area, and why is it so ugly?”

tommy sputters a laugh, and admits, “oh, i can barely remember, it mighta been me.”

“that explains it,” comes deo’s deadpan reply, and with an indignant “hey!” tommy punches deo’s arm playfully.

they walk towards, uh, “lamburger? manbergian? manberg? what was it called, again?”

“l’manberg!” tommy insists, “it’s called l’manberg, and if you call it manberg, you will be slaughtered.” 

deo raises his eyebrows. “touchy subject?”

“see, the previous dictator who held a public execution called it manberg,” tommy explains, and he says it so casually that deo almost questions his ears. 

“a public what?” he asks, hiding his disbelief.

“a public execution,” tommy confirms. 

“i can do that,” deo muses, and tommy stops walking to turn to deo properly.

he takes deo’s shoulders, and says as seriously as he can, “please. please do not do that, actually. i have lost so many people, and i refuse to lose you.”

tommy retracts his arms, and deo takes tommy’s hand into his own. “hey, i was joking,” he says, his previous concern heightened by the desperation in tommy’s voice. 

“i know, i know,” tommy says. “it’s just- you know, it’s been a tough couple of months.” 

deo nods in understanding. trying to lighten the mood, he jokes, “hey, how legal is first-degree wholesale murder around here?”

tommy smiles. “oh, it’s illegal all right, but you can technically do it, ‘long as you don’t take a canon death.”

“oh, this is gonna be good,” deo says, and tommy dissolves into laughter.

they swing hands as they walk towards l’manberg, deo scanning his eyes over the giant flag. l’manberg’s flag, he supposes.

“first stop,” tommy says, “is niki’s bakery. tubbo’s there, and niki is amazing at baking! you’ll love it, i promise.”

“oh, tubbo!” deo says, the name sparking recognition, “i wonder how he’s doing.”

they walk into the warm bakery, the bell ringing as the door shuts. niki is  
placing some cupcakes in a display case, jamming out to some animal crossing tunes. tubbo is on the other side of the room, standing on a ladder, placing some packets of sugar on a high shelf.

he turns around, alerted by the bell, and grins when he sees tommy and deo. he jumps down, “deo!” he pulls deo into a hug.

deo hugs back gratefully, saying, “long time, no see! how are you, tubbo?”

“i’ve been great! fundy and quackity are looking after the gov for me today, so i got a day off!”

“how’s it being the president of a country, huh? had to leave your hitman business behind?”

“aw,” tubbo says, “yeah, i did. it’s good being part of the cabinet. it’s stressful, but i’m not alone, so it’s good. i’ve just been baking with niki, now.”

deo smiles, commenting on how he’s glad tubbo is happy, before turning to niki and raising his hand slightly, “hiya.”

“hallo!” niki replies, her face the epitome of warmth. even though they’ve never met, and deo is far too tall for it to be comfortable, niki pulls him into a hug.

when she pulls away, deo says, “you know, this is the part where i usually kill any new person i’ve met, but to be honest, you’ve been so nice i don’t think i can do it.”

“you better not!” tubbo quips, and though he’s smiling and his tone is cheery, doe gets the feeling tubbo would snap his spine if he ever hurt niki. 

as deo and niki engage in lively conversation, tubbo looks straight at tommy, then down at his and deo’s interlocked hands. he looks back up at tommy pointedly, and tommy blushes. “shut the fuck up,” he says, even though tubbo has remained completely silent. tubbo smiles at him and shrugs, before turning back to his shelving.

“oh, i really just came here because tommy wanted me to,” deo explains to niki, gesturing to tommy. 

“yeah, i guessed,” niki says, and tommy rolls his eyes in a faux-annoyed impression.

“this is all real nice, but me and deo have places to be, so we’ll be taking our leave,” he interjects, and steadily ignores tubbo mouthing “jealous” at him. he’s not really annoyed with tubbo, he could never be, but just because he’s not mad doesn’t mean he wants to deal with it right now.

niki waves them goodbye, and tommy starts dragging deo away to the door, when niki says, “wait! wait, i got something for you.”

she hands them both a bag of cookies, and deo grabs some money from his pocket to pay her, (he doesn’t know why, but something about niki invokes only the kindest humanly instincts from him), but niki refuses. they leave it at that, and tommy tugs deo outside. 

deo calls him clingy and tommy playfully hits him again, their banter easingly normal. everything feels at ease with deo, tommy notices.

tommy shows him the entirety of l’manberg, complete with enthusiastic anecdotes of every building and how it came to be. deo listens intently, smiling fondly. when they come across dream tommy flips him the bird, so deo does the same. tommy goes on a tangent about how awful dream is, and deo makes a mental note to kill dream later.

it’s been a long time since he’s committed a direct slaughter, and besides, tommy practically told him to! deo’s never been all that concerned about rules anyways.

their last stop is eret’s castle, and tommy goes into another rant about eret’s stupid betrayal and stupid sunglasses and stupid deep voice, and stupid dreamsmp loyalties.

“that’s weird,” deo interjects, “my brother also wore sunglasses all the time and had a stupidly deep voice. he was on smpearth, i don’t know if you remember him.”

“maye they’re the same person,” tommy jokes, and deo laughs.

“aw, i wish.”

tommy drags him to the castle’s open gates, and leads him into the garden. standing in the garden is none other than eret himself.

deo feels his mouth drop a little. it can’t be, he assures himself. it can’t be. 

when the man turns around though, the truth becomes crystal clear. dreamsmp’s eret is the same as deo’s eret.

“hey tom- wait, deo?” eret asks in surprise, pushing down his sunglasses to rub at his eyes. “oh, hello! it’s been quite a while, huh?”

deo lets go of tommy’s hand to hug eret, as weird and awkward as it is. “i, uh, i didn’t expect to see you here,” he says, trying to smile. it’s not that he isn’t happy to see his brother, he’s actually delighted, but it’s been so long and this is a lot of information to process at once.

“same,” eret says, dropping his head onto deo’s shoulder as they hug. they stay like that a moment, embracing, before tommy coughs. 

deo pulls away, turning to tommy. “yeah, tommy, eret’s my brother.”

tommy subtly takes deo’s hand again, and laughs nervously. “oh, that’s kind of unfortunate, because i did just spend the past ten minutes ranting about how much i hate him…”

deo laughs as well, “don’t worry, i agree with you.”

“hey!” says eret indignantly, flicking the side of deo’s head

eret looks at their intertwined hands, and casts a glance at deo. deo, strangely enough, mirrors tommy’s exact prior actions, and tells eret to, “shut up,” despite eret not having anything. eret simply smirks and turns to tommy.

tommy notices eret’s look, and promptly says, “eret you’re fuckin weird. i reckon- no, listen, you’re fucking weird.”

deo chokes back a surprised laugh, and eret pushes tommy away, albeit gently. “alright, get off my land,” he says, and deo snickers.

“that’s what power does to people,” he laughs. “you become king and it goes right to your head, yeah eret?” he smiles at eret, who glares good-naturedly.

“get out!” eret yells, faking offense. “off with you two, you’re bringing down the value of my property.”

he’s smiling though, and deo and tommy both know he’s joking.

deo has high hopes for this server.


	2. come and dance by the armored soldiers, for the menace of peace

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> deo tries to adjust to l'manberg life.
> 
> chapter title from the diving bell by gang of youths.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> this is so out of character,,,, PAIN
> 
> im sk sorry for cursing yall with my shity writing but someone's gotta write the tomdeo fic on ao3 ,,, someone's gotta do it 
> 
> trying my best, please don't bully me

deo tries his best to get along with all of tommy’s friends. well, tommy calls them friends, but he fights with a lot of people quite often. deo thinks a better word to describe them would simply be fellow citizens and people from their neighboring countries, but whatever. he's not going to be the one to police tommy's language - that's bad's job.

it’s not easy, and obviously, in typical deo fashion, he has to bully some people, but he’s been trying hard to keep the murder to a minimum. 

much like techno, he turns to farming. beside the house he and tommy have built together, there’s a secret door leading down to a pretty big room cut into the stone, filled with chickens.

"like that room back in business bay," tommy muses, more to himself than anything. he seems a lot younger, all of a sudden, like a child in a war who's terribly homesick, but is just about getting on. it makes deo's heart ache in a subtle way, perhaps at the simple veracity of it all - tommy is exactly that, a child in a terrible war, who just wants to go home.

deo shakes his head, and the image is gone. 

there’s a lot of chickens in the room. too many chickens, one could argue, but the only person who knows of his farm is techno, and techno has a horrific amount of potatoes, so he can’t mock him. 

don't throw stones from glass houses, deo reminds himself.

the chickens serve as a distraction of some sorts. they give him feathers for arrows, for quills, eggs for niki’s cakes, chicken for food. it’s a worthy investment, and it’s calming, breeding and feeding and killing them.

he builds an afk fishing farm, and feels a strange sense of pride when tommy gets excited over the amount of enchanted books he’s acquired.

he and tommy have built a weirdly domestic routine. it’s strangely calming, sitting peacefully with tommy in their living room, talking about life and everything in it. deo talks about the intense urge to kill karl and tommy tells deo about the parliament.

_"and it's strange, all the things that i've run from,  
are the things that completeness could come from…" _

they listen to the music deo has brought with him from illegal dealing in skyblock. he gives the disc to tommy, of course he does. maybe he'd like to keep it for himself, but tommy looks so happy when he gives him the disc deo thinks he'll be okay.

things aren’t always smooth, however. tommy makes mistakes, they both do.

there is that one awful time tommy and ranboo burn down george’s house, and personally deo doesn’t see the problem because both he and fundy have offered to help rebuild it, but dream steps in. 

deo maintains that l’manberg’s affairs are none of dreams business, and the others back him up - but, as george points out, it's technically not only l’manberg’s affairs as george is a dreamsmp citizen.

jesus, geopolitics is so confusing. 

dream pushes tubbo to get tommy exiled - but deo stands behind tommy, arguing his case with tubbo and dream. deo talks about how much tommy has done for the country, and how unfair to would be to exile him for just one slip-up. fundy and quackity agree, and tubbo leans towards their side. 

(in all honesty, deo doesn't know what he's talking about, but fear and desperation fuel his every word. he looks at tommy beside him, and thinks of how much he's changed. 

he was never impulsive like this. it's like he wants to get hurt.

deo needs to get to the bottom of this, and he can't do that if the bastard gets exiled.

deo wants to get angry, but it comes out as tears when he's alone. he pushes up his sunglasses and take a deep breath. it'll be okay.)

deo wants to snap dream's neck. he knows practically everyone else does, as well.

they all come to a compromise (and quackity holds a netherite axe uncomfortably close to dream's neck,) where tommy is allowed to stay in l’manberg. deo promises to make sure tommy gets in no more trouble, and dream agrees to leave l’manberg to its own business. (the axe almost touches his hair. quackity apologises through bared teeth. deo thinks he might like this guy.)

deo keeps his composure during their stupidly formal meeting, but as he and tommy stumble home, he hugs tommy with such fierceness tommy almost feels afraid.

"be careful," he says. "be careful."

“i never knew you could be so diplomatic, man,” tommy jokes weakly, his voice barely above a whisper. “i really expected you to just straight up kill everyone.” deo hugs him tighter as tommy’s voice wavers.

“i know what battles i can win and what battles i’ll lose,” he says, after a pause, and tommy agrees with him.

tommy never formally thanks him, but he leaves his mellohi disc in deo's ender chest. deo doesn't know the significance, but he knows it's tommy's favourite. he doesn’t comment. he doesn’t think tommy would want him to.

he simply returns to the mines, and keeps grinding for items. he acquires a  
lot of diamonds, possibly rivalling even technoblade. tommy calls him a tryhard, and deo ruffles his hair and calls him a nuisance. deo does that frequently nowadays - ruffling his hair. tommy yells at him sometimes and slaps at deo’s hands, but more often than not he leans in to the touch. deo likes tommy’s hair - it’s blond and soft and though it’s not as fluffy as it was back on smpearth, that doesn’t deter deo from petting it whenever he can.

tubbo and deo spend a fortnight together gathering netherite. it’s hard work, but it’s undeniably fun, because back in skyblock he never really had the chance to ever visit a nether, nor was he able to on smpearth. it’s a good experience, and deo is happy to settle with himself that the nether is not humid, it’s a dry kind of heat, which he appreciates.

it’s tough, but it’s bearable, and most of all it worth it when he’s able to gather three stacks of netherite ingots. it’s also worth talking to tubbo again. he’s missed his friend.

maybe tommy was right - he is kind of a tryhard, but it’s nice when he’s able to make the best armour available in the game. he gives the armour to tommy - to be honest, he doesn’t really want to own armour anymore. tommy tells him wilbur felt the sa,e way and deo laughs, but his laughter ceases when he realizes wilbur is the dead brother.

but things are getting on okay.

of course, there’s always issues - like deo killing everyone who passes by their house all the time. he makes sure he never takes a canon death, so him killing them is really just an inconvenience at worst, but deo kills people enough for it to be a major inconvenience.

karl gets sick ofit and decides to deal with the issue. he approaches him directly, yelling, “don’t kill me, don’t kill me, don’t kill me!” and deo, for once in his life, shows a little bit of mercy, and pauses.

“yeah?” he asks, too nonchalant for the situation they’re in.

karl stumbles forward. “why- why do you keep killing me?” he asks, and he looks so confused that deo almost feels bad.

“you’re too close to the house,” deo explains. “you might be a threat.”

“with no armour, or weapons?” karl asks, exasperated. he sees deo's fingers tap his netherite sword and steps back hesitantly. “come on, man, i want to be friends!” 

“oh, we can be friends,” deo offers, and almost winces at the look of utter despair on karl’s face.

“we can’t be friends if you keep killing me!”

“can’t we?” deo asks, and karl places his head in his hands. “okay, okay, i was joking! yes, we can be allies.”

“not allies,” karl corrects, “friends.” 

“is there a difference?” deo asks, his voice deadpan, and karl looks up, offended.

‘yes! allyship is purely political, and friendship is like, you know…" he trails off uncertainly, but deo gets the point. "you seem cool, albeit a little aggressive,” karl says, and he smiles. “but it’s okay, because you’ll stop now, right?”

“yeah,” deo agrees. “i’ll stop now.”

in all honesty, he’s a little disappointed, he liked killing people. it was fun while it lasted, he supposes, and gets back to distracting himself with the chicken farm. 

he expands his farm. he keeps some of his chickens permanently, and gives them names. he lets tommy name one - and, of course, tommy being tommy, suggests the names, “mother clucker” and “public nuisance.” and even deo must admit that mother clucker is a pretty clever name. 

they settle on public nuisance, “pn” for short. it makes them both laugh when they make the name tag.

but still, something seems missing.

deo, somehow, manages to make friends with niki. he helps her expand her shop, and they learn a lot about eachother while they build the bakery’s extensions. niki talks about how much she loves sewing, and deo tells her about his chicken farm. it’s an unlikely friendship, but a good one.

when they finish building the bakery, they pick a spot in a nearby forest to meet up and talk. ghostbur joins them, often. at first, he doesn’t remember deo, but memories slowly come back to him. ghostbur also develops the unfortunate habit of referring to deo as “tommy’s boyfriend,” which is a source of embarrassment for both parties. deo and tommy both tell ghostbur on separate occasions that they’re just friends, and nothing more, but ghostbur forgets very easily.

(or rather, he says he does. deo doesn't trust the ghost.)

eventually, they just give up and let ghostbur do what he wants. 

and, though tommy would never admit it, he doesn’t actually mind all that much being referred to as deo’s significant other.

deo finds life peaceful, but something seems off, he describes how he feels to everyone he knows, to fundy, niki, ghostbur, tommy, and phil, but nobody quite understands. phil recommends he talk to technoblade, so deo agrees.

he’s missed talking to technoblade, anyways.

as he walks to techno’s base, he takes note of the sheer amount of scattered potato farms there are. it seems the poor man is addicted, or something. deo sniggers to himself at the weird commentary tommy gave to him about it, ranting on about techno being a potatofucker.

he spots techno standing next to a blue colored sheep, petting it and feeding it wheat. the scene is kind of wholesome, what with techno's gruff, “good, good sheep, good sheepie,” and the gentle way he scratches its chin.

it’s a shame to interrupt such a peaceful couple, but deo really needs advice. “hey, techno,” he says, walking over.

techno looks up and quickly pushes the sheep away from him. “oh, hey deo.”

“what’s with the sheep?” he asks, looking at its name tag, which reads, “friend.”

“oh, it’s wilbur’s,” techno explains. “he called it friend, because he wanted the sheep to make people happy.”

“it’s good at its job,” deo comments, and notices a ghost of a smile tracing techno’s lips. 

“yeah,” he agrees, “tell wilbur that and he’ll be ecstatic.” he looks away from the sheep, to turn to deo. “so, what brings you here? if there’s another war, i don’t care.”

deo laughs, “don’t worry, there’s no wars. i was just wondering if you could give me some advice.”

techno adjusts his crown, “you’ve come to the right place. i think i might know what this is about. alright, spit it out, what’s happened?”

“nothing’s really happened,” says deo. “i suppose that’s kind of the problem." he pauses, feeling stupid before just saying it, "i miss murder, man. i think about it far too often for it to be normal.”

techno laughs at him. “oh, deo, good to know you struggle with the urges as well. i do too. it’s just the bloodlust, isn’t it? i miss killing people too.”

deo pushes up his sunglasses. “how do you deal with it, techno? what do you do?”

techno flicks the side of his head ignoring deo’s yelp of faux-anger, “your eyes are terrifying, keep your sunglasses off. as for the homicidal rage,” techno says, suddenly serious, “don't worry about it."

techno’s gaze suddenly seems far off, and he continues to talk, his usual monotone holding a note of softness. “i asked phil about it, once. he never understood fully, but he knew enough to give me good advice - he said i wouldn’t feel like this forever. he said, though i may live the chaos now, someday i’ll settle down. everyone does. i’ll fixate onto other goals some day. it won’t-“ techno pauses suddenly, and looks deo straight in the eyes. “it won’t hurt like this forever.”

deo nods, the playful energy gone, replaced by something more solemn, earnest, significant. there’s a pause, though not an uncomfortable one

techno speaks very suddenly. “tell tommy i said that - ‘it won’t hurt like this forever.’ tell him technoblade said that.” he pauses. “tell him his brother said that.”

“i’ll do that,” deo says. technoblade turns back to the direction of his house, and deo gets the feeling he should leave. he waves techno goodbye, content.

“see ya on the flip side, deo.” 

deo deliberates over the words as he walks home. trust technoblade to take some trivial request for advice into an erudite discussion. it’s just his nature, deo supposes. he’s been like that before and he’ll be like that for the rest of his life. it’s nice, to have someone like technoblade, with wisdom and foresight and fancy words.

deo knows techno and tommy don’t have the best relationship so he hesitates before telling the younger, “technoblade wanted to tell you that it won’t hurt like this forever.” no contest is provided, and deo really expected tommy to go into some angry rant about how much he sucked, but tommy instead nibbles at his lip and nods, in thought.

“do you reckon he’s sorry?” tommy asks out of the blue.

“i don’t think technoblade has ever been sorry for anything.”

tommy laughs at that, ‘yeah. least it means he hasn’t changed.” he leaves the _“i’ve_ changed so much,” unsaid.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> thanks for reading, leave a comment :")

**Author's Note:**

> tell me how much you hate me, tell me how much you hate this ship, because the human interaction will give me serotonin regardless. fools, there is no god up here, but me. you can't win.
> 
> i die for commenters pls comment


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